Propel

In 2014, Jimmy Chen, a former product manager at Facebook, founded the start-up Propel to build software for low-income Americans. After conducting in-depth behavioral research, Chen and his small team in New York City began to develop technology to address the burdensome process of accessing benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. They first designed a mobile site called Easy Food Stamps that streamlined SNAP enrollment, then developed the Fresh EBT app that allowed users to quickly and easily check their SNAP balances on mobile devices. By November 2016, Fresh EBT had 133,000 weekly active users, but Propel had a limited funding runway, and, ahead of a meeting with investors, Chen has to select a business model. He evaluates data from two ongoing business model pilots—financial services referrals and grocery marketing—along with other user behavior research to determine how Propel could generate meaningful revenue while continuing to provide value to users.